When Antoine Bernet assumed the role of country division head for Bayer Crop Science Canada in 2023, he brought with him nearly two decades of experience driving transformation and innovation in agriculture. His leadership tenure spans across Europe and North America, marked by a track record of growth, strategic reinvention, and a focus on delivering results for farmers.
“I believe that leadership in agriculture today is about balancing innovation with practicality,” Bernet says. “Farmers face unprecedented challenges, and our role is to help them not just survive but thrive.”
Bernet’s first year at the helm was a busy and transformative one. Under his leadership, Bayer Canada rolled out a bold new operating model aimed at maximizing farmer success through localized, agile decision-making.
“From the start, it was clear that farmers needed solutions tailored to their unique challenges,” Bernet explains. “That’s why we transitioned to a model built around cross-functional ‘Squads.’ These teams are granted the power to make quick decisions and create solutions along with our partners. This isn’t just about responding faster — it’s about anticipating needs and staying ahead of the curve.”
The Squads, organized into five regional units, are supported by functional experts across Canada. This structure ensures that Bayer’s focus isn’t diluted by one-size-fits-all strategies but instead remains in tune with regional dynamics.
The results? Teams now spend more time directly engaging with customers, strengthening relationships, and delivering innovations that matter most, Bernet says. It’s a way of building bridges between the company and the farmers who use its canola seed.
Innovation at the Forefront
Bernet is quick to emphasize Bayer’s commitment to advancing crop technology. From harnessing the latest plant genetics to farmer-informed breeding programs, innovation is at the heart of Bayer’s strategy, he says.
“Take our DEKALB canola hybrids,” Bernet says. “We’ve completely re-engineered and re-imagined the lineup to deliver on what growers demand most. They no longer need to choose between a high yield-potential hybrid with clubroot resistance, straight cut harvestability and earlier maturity — it’s in every bag. And we’re not stopping there. New high-yield potential hybrids with TruFlex® LibertyLink® technology to give farmers the weed control flexibility they need, without sacrificing yield potential.”
But Bayer’s innovation isn’t limited to genetics. The company is weaving bio-economic indicators into its breeding efforts, using customer-informed selection indexes to prioritize seed traits that maximize on-farm profitability.
“It’s not just about yield anymore,” says Bernet. “Profitability means accounting for everything from drought tolerance to disease resistance. We’re listening to farmers and delivering solutions that balance potential and risk.”
Bernet is acutely aware of the pressures Canadian farmers face. Climate change, evolving weed resistance, and the push for environmental sustainability are reshaping the agricultural landscape.
“Farmers are navigating a perfect storm of challenges,” he says. “Our role is to provide them with the tools, technology, and expertise to turn these challenges into opportunities.”
Under Bernet’s guidance, Bayer is addressing these hurdles head-on. The company’s breeding pipeline prioritizes traits that provide stable performance across an ever-changing environment, and defends that performance from a number of plant diseases and pathogens while meeting Canada’s stringent sustainability benchmarks — all aimed to boost farmer profitability.
Partnering for Success
To do that, Bayer is seeking help from experts outside the company who have more experience with canola’s relatives. Enter its partnership with the University of Alberta. By sifting through the genes of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale, plant scientist Habibur Rahman and his team plan to pinpoint the best ones for breeding new lines of canola to produce hybrid cultivars with higher seed yield.
“This work is taking us to the next level of improved genetic diversity that will make hybrid canola stronger,” says Rahman, a professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences.
Canola production contributes $29.9 billion per year to the Canadian economy and is an important global export, totalling $14.4 billion a year. Farmers harvest about 20 million tonnes of canola annually, with hybrid cultivars accounting for more than 95% of the crop grown in Canada.
Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale are varieties of a species known as Brassica oleracea. Determining which genes among them spur higher seed yield will help scientists fortify that crucial trait in hybrid canola.
The food-grade oil crushed from canola seeds is the crop’s most valuable product, Rahman notes.
“Since oil is extracted from harvested seeds, if you harvest more seed, you will get more oil.”
Working with Bayer, Rahman and his team will develop new canola lines to create hundreds of hybrids. They’ll then test them all in field trials across the Prairie provinces for seed yield, as well as other traits such as days to flowering and maturity, disease resistance and oil content.
The resulting canola lines are expected to carry fewer undesirable traits such as late flowering that come with Brassica oleracea vegetables and will produce better hybrids, Rahman says.
“By continuous breeding, we’re trying to maintain the good genes in the new lines for higher yield and other positive traits.”
If proven effective, the improved genetic material and the knowledge from the research will support the long-term work of producing new commercial hybrids, he adds.
“It takes many years to develop superior hybrid canola cultivars, but the genetic research we are doing is important to maintaining the profitability of this crop at the farm level.”
Thinking of Canola in a New Way
When people think of canola, their minds often jump to the sprawling fields of the Prairies. But in the rugged terrain of Cranbrook, B.C., a lesser-known chapter of canola innovation is taking shape. Cranbrook is where Bayer Canada houses one of its canola seed production facilities.
Shaun Corneille, Bayer’s North American canola and cereals strategy lead, sheds light on how this unique region is reshaping the way foundational and pre-foundational seed production is managed.
“Given the geography, Cranbrook presents some unique challenges,” he says. “Isolating fields for seed production in the interior of B.C.’s first mountain range is vital for maintaining purity. But physically getting around to monitor crops as closely as we need to? That’s a whole other challenge.”
To address this, the team leaned on remote sensing technology to streamline their operations. While remote sensing isn’t groundbreaking in itself, he emphasizes that its integration into Cranbrook’s specific processes was a big deal.
“It’s allowed us to monitor irrigation scheduling, adapt to changing weather conditions, and optimize field activities — things that were previously much harder to manage in such a rugged and remote area,” he says.
The results? Enhanced efficiency, sustainability and optimal soil health. “It’s not just about being able to respond faster but applying our time and resources where it matters most.”
For a region not traditionally associated with canola, why is Cranbrook so critical to Bayer’s seed production?
“It’s precisely because you don’t trip over other canola fields there,” Corneillie says. “The isolation ensures the highest purity levels, which is just as important as yield when producing parental seeds for hybrid varieties.”
Efficiencies in Lethbridge and Beyond
While Cranbrook showcases cutting-edge tech integration, Bayer’s team in Lethbridge has also been innovating in impactful ways. One such example is the “seed saver” project, aimed at reducing seed loss during processing.
“It’s a small investment with big returns,” Corneillie says. “By addressing inefficiencies in the cleaning plant, we’ve significantly increased the amount of viable seed that makes it to market.”
This commitment to quality and customers is ultimately what led to Bayer’s acquisition of a new canola treating and packaging facility in Coaldale, Alta.
The new acquisition will enable a more seamless transition from Bayer’s seed production site in Cranbrook and its seed cleaning facility in Lethbridge. These two sites are examples of how Bayer is prioritizing a model that more closely aligns with farmers’ needs.
“We’ll have more visibility and control over the seed from production to packaging, which directly benefits the farmers who use our seed,” Bernet says.
—with files from Bev Betkowski, University of Alberta
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